Chicken Chimichangas

A few simple ingredients with a Mexican flare - Chicken Chimichangas. I purchase a 1 3/4 lb. pack of thinner boneless and skinless chicken breasts. I used 3 and froze 3 for another dinner. Out of the 3 pieces of chicken I got a yield of five chimichangas. If you do 4 breast pieces you will get about seven. One thing you want to avoid is overfilling, otherwise you won't be able to wrap them up very well.
This can be made with left over chicken as well.

• Fajita Wraps - 8 to a package
• 1 plus or minus pound boneless skinless chicken breasts - cut into strips
• 1 jar prepared salsa (I used medium heat - but it's your choice.)
• 1 bar Monterey Jack Cheese - shredded
• Fresh tomato wedges for the side
• Fresh iceberg lettuce for the side
• Sour cream for the side
• Vegetable oil or canola oil for frying
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp. cumin

1. Make a rub with the spices. Follow the above amounts or alter to your tastes.
2. Wash and dry your chicken and cut strips against the grain of the chicken.
3. Place in a bowl with the spices. Mix well to get spice on all of the pieces. Let this rest at room temperature while you prepare other parts.
4. Place your cheese in the freezer for about 5 minutes as it makes it easier to shred. To shred you can use a hand grater or use an attachment on your food processor for shredding.
5. Cut the tomato into wedges and cut the iceberg in chunks or slices for salad garnish on the side.
6. In a deep skillet add some oil (olive oil is fine) and heat over moderately high heat for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken pieces in and cook almost all the way through. Turn the chicken often and it takes on a light golden color.
7. Turn the heat down to low and add in some of the salsa to coat the chicken well. I used about 3/4 of an 15.5 oz. jar. Cook for one minute or so and turn off the heat.
8. Make sure your wraps are soft (I left mine in our bread drawer so they were soft when I went to use them).
9. Place some of the filling of chicken and salsa on each wrap.
   
10. To this top with some of the shredded cheddar cheese.
    
11. Fold the end closest to you over the filling, then fold the left and right side in and roll to the end. Insert a toothpick to hold them together.
    
12. In a deep pan or deep skillet put in at least 1 inch of oil. Heat over moderately high heat until you reach 350° for frying.
13. Fry each one to a golden brown. Drain on paper towels and place on a plate with some more shredded cheddar on top while the Chimichangas are still warm.
14. If you are doing these in batches, place on a tray and keep warm in a 200° oven.

Plate with the tomato wedges, lettuce and sour cream and if you have extra salsa use that as well. I think your family will love this. An additional component I added was the Grilled Cheesy Jalapeno Peppers to the side.